Tag: Summer of 2010 (Page 48 of 63)

      Does LeBron’s MVP ceremony hold clues to his future?

      May 3, 2010 /

      Chris Broussard thinks so…

      “I love Akron to death,” James said. “Since I was a little kid, I always said I was going to find a way to put this city on the map. And I’m going to continue to do that.”

      As James spoke after receiving his second straight MVP award Sunday at the University of Akron, you couldn’t help but think to yourself: He ain’t leaving.

      Of course, James didn’t go that far. He kept his wiggle room as the greatest prize in the greatest free-agent class in NBA history by saying, “No matter what might be ahead for me, this will always be my home.”

      But everything else about the afternoon said he’s staying with the Cleveland Cavaliers. After all, the overriding theme of the event was loyalty — to his mom, to his family, to his high school teammates, to his city and to his team. Now in his seventh year with the Cavs, James even invited his teammates onto the stage, where they mugged and posed for pictures while sharing inside jokes.

      “I don’t have any special insight into this,” said Keith Dambrot, James’ first high school coach and now the head coach at Akron. “But if I had to, I’d bet my house that he stays. Why else would you do things like this?”

      There’s more than just 40 miles separating Akron and Cleveland. When asked last summer about his loyalty to Cleveland, James had this to say:

      “My loyalty is to Akron. I’m looking forward to this upcoming season, but I’m looking forward to the summer of 2010, too, to see what may happen. No matter what happens that summer, you know, I’m still here. I’ve got a nice big house here that I’m always coming back to. You know, I love this city and I’ll always give back to this city no matter what my profession; if it takes me somewhere else.”

      James has been careful to distinguish his hometown from the city where he works, and he has always left for the possibility that he’ll change teams this summer, even at his loyalty-themed MVP event.

      I don’t think Cleveland’s proximity to Akron would trump another early postseason exit for the Cavs, but we may never know for sure.


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      Where do the Mavs go from here?

      April 30, 2010 /

      In the Daily Dime, Marc Stein discusses the short-term future of the Dallas Mavericks after their first round loss last night to the Spurs.

      Mavs owner Mark Cuban didn’t trade for Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood in February, taking on millions in extra salary and luxury tax in the process, to make such a swift return to the early playoff misery inflicted by Golden State in 2007. Dallas became the first No. 1 seed in league history to lose a best-of-seven series in the first round that year … and just became the first No. 2 to lose in Round 1 since the NBA went to a best-of-seven format in 2003.

      “We’re a failure,” Mavericks guard Jason Terry said. “We failed. There’s no other word but failure. That’s how we feel right now.”

      Cuban himself acknowledged after the Mavs’ Game 1 triumph that the F word — yes, failure — was going to be the reaction all over town and all over the league “if we don’t win a championship.”

      “We’ve got a great base,” Cuban said. “We’ll have a chance to work with each other [in training camp before next season]. You could see some of the uneasiness because we haven’t had a full season to play together, and that showed a few times, but we’ll pull all the pieces together and we’ll go at ’em again next year.”

      Cuban’s “we’ve got a great base” comment implies that he’s not planning to blow up the roster. Dirk Nowitzki, however, is suddenly a candidate to join an already stellar free agent class this summer, though it’s still far more likely that he’ll re-up.

      But back to Cuban — the whole we-haven’t-had-enough-time-to-gel line of reasoning is starting to wear thin. Butler and Haywood had 27 games to work the kinks out — how long does it take to develop the necessary chemistry? That’s an entire season for most college and high school teams, and most of them gel just fine. Chemistry can develop over time, but typically speaking, it’s either there or it’s not.

      Complicating matters is Cuban’s tendency to drastically alter his roster. In February of 2008, he swapped Devin Harris and two first round picks for Jason Kidd. Last summer, he signed Shawn Marion. And this February, he pulled the trigger on the Butler/Haywood trade. Who’s to say that he’ll be able to control himself when a few more aging, expensive stars become available at the next trade deadline?

      As long as Nowitzki is around, the Mavs will be competitive. If he returns to a team that already has Butler, Kidd, Marion, Jason Terry and Roddy Beaubois, Dallas will once again win 50 games and make the postseason. But with the way that they were worked over by an aging Spurs team, does anyone really think the Mavs will make another Finals appearance anytime soon?

      It has to be frustrating to let a title slip through your fingers in 2006 and then spend the next three or four years trying to get back to that level. Under the current circumstances, the Mavs seem destined to be a Western Conference also-ran. I don’t blame Cuban for trying to build on what he has, but unless there’s a major infusion of talent — I’m talking a top 10 or 15 player acquired via sign-and-trade — it doesn’t look like the Mavs are a real threat to make the Finals.

      That’s the nice thing about knowing that you’re rebuilding. There are no delusions of grandeur.

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      Beasley not long for Miami?

      April 29, 2010 /

      Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel had this to say about Michael Beasley’s future in Miami:

      If Wade returns, then Beasley never will get to move closer to the leading-man role he so craves.

      Considering his final act this season was being benched for the second half of Tuesday’s series-ending loss to the Celtics, it would appear that a parting would be in the best interest of all parties.

      While Beasley should be able to produce breakout numbers on a team less caught up in pick-and-roll offense and defensive efficiency, his value is such that the best net gain in a deal for the Heat could be additional cap space.

      Trying to continue to make this work could be very difficult for the Heat, especially if Erik Spoelstra is back as coach.

      I’m not exactly sure why everyone is so down on Beasley. As John Hollinger put it, “Beasley produced the most successful disappointing rookie season ever, earning criticism for much of the year despite averaging 22.4 points per 40 minutes and posting a 17.23 PER.” His PER this season (16.16) was #28 amongst power forwards, but not a deal breaker given his rookie PER and the fact that he’s a 21-year-old kid coming out of rehab (for what, we do not know).

      He’s a very good scorer, and probably needs to go to a bad offensive team where he can take a lot of shots. He has a poor reputation defensively, and would need to go somewhere where either a) defense doesn’t matter all that much, or b) there’s a strong enough defensive culture to offset his lack of desire on that end of the court. He’s enough of a competitor that I think he can at least get to the point where he’s not hurting his team defensively.

      The bottom line is that he’s not fitting in with the Heat so he could probably be had for next to nothing this summer. It will be interesting to see where he lands.


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      What are the chances of a sign-and-trade for Bosh?

      April 19, 2010 /

      Even if he leaves Toronto, Chris Bosh says that he plans to stay in contact with Bryan Colangelo throughout the free agency process.

      “No matter what happens, me and Bryan agreed to work together,” Bosh said. “I think that’s important. I respect him as a GM and he respects me as a player. No matter what you do, you always want to do good business in this league. We’re always going to talk.”

      Colangelo had similar things to say.

      “There are certain things we’ll be pursuing in the coming months that might address things on our team with or without Chris. We remain Chris Bosh’s best option to maximize his contract potential” (referring to sign-and-trade)

      “We have agreed that regardless of whether or not he stays, we’ll be working together and talking. We’ll be assessing what options we have but it’s not often that a young athlete walks away from a significant amount of money and that’s the difference between him working for us and…doing a sign-and-trade.

      This has been the fallback option for Raptor fans who liked the idea of the team keeping Bosh through last February’s trade deadline. It does make some sense for him because Toronto can sign him to an extra year which means more long-term security and bigger raises over the life of the contract. Conversely, if he agrees to a sign-and-trade, it needs to be with a team that has assets that would be deemed expendable given his arrival (i.e. Miami trading Michael Beasley because they play the same position, or the Knicks executing a sign-and-trade with David Lee, whom they wouldn’t re-sign if Bosh were headed to New York). Otherwise, why would Bosh agree to fleece his new team of most of its good, young assets when he can sign with the team outright?

      If Bosh does execute a sign-and-trade with a team like Miami that has the cap space to sign him free and clear, one would have to question Bosh’s sincerity when he says he just wants to win. If that were the case and he were headed to Miami anyway, he should sign a five-year deal (instead of a six-year deal) and allow the franchise to keep the rights to Beasley which then could potentially be flipped for another good player. (The Lee scenario is different because he would be a free agent anyway and wouldn’t be back if the team were to sign Bosh outright, so they’re not really losing anything asset-wise.)


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      Wade: “Miami is in the driver’s seat.”

      April 17, 2010 /

      Dwyane Wade appeared on the “Mike & Mike” show and reiterated his desire to re-sign with the Heat.

      “Chicago is my home city, and I love Chicago,” Wade said. “But my heart is here in Miami.

      “All the cards are in Miami, and it’s their game to lose, more than anything. I appreciate that organizations want me to be a part of them, but right now Miami is in the driver’s seat.”

      A couple of things to note here: 1) Wade seems pleased with the play of the Heat over the last month of the season. Even if they had an easy schedule, they took care of business and went into the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the league. Whether or not they lose to Boston may not matter. 2) Wade mentions the Bulls, but he doesn’t mention the Knicks. I don’t know the context of his response, but he does mention Chicago and doesn’t mention any other team save for the Heat.

      It sounds to me that if Miami is able to sign a sidekick (Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer) then Wade is likely to re-sign.

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